Deering High School Senior Is National Merit Scholar

Portland, Maine - Lucy Tumavicus, a senior at Deering High School, has won a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship. Lucy is one of just 11 Maine students to win a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship. They are among 2,500 such Merit Scholars chosen from a nationwide talent pool of more than 15,000 outstanding Finalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The $2500 scholarship winners are the Finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

These Scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a written recommendation.

The 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program began in October 2016 when more than 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools took the Preliminary National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less than one percent of the nation’s high school seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state-representational basis. Only these 16,000 Semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.

From the Semifinalist group, some 15,000 students met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2018 program, about 7,500 Finalists will have earned the “Merit Scholar” title and received a total of over $31 million in college scholarships.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. (NMSC) is a nonprofit that operates without government assistance. The majority of scholarships offered each year are underwritten by approximately 410 independent corporate and college sponsors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring scholastically talented youth and encouraging academic excellence at all levels of education.